


A Flawless Design

by orphan_account



Category: FAKE (Manga)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, i am so so sorry for how stupid this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24814495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Drake and Ted notice something different about Ryo before Dee does.
Relationships: Dee Laytner/Randy "Ryo" MacLean
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	A Flawless Design

**Author's Note:**

> This absolutely does not fit with canon, and is also very short and very dumb, but I’ve had an awful week and wanted to write something silly so here we are. I also haven’t actually read the manga in like, half a year, _plus_ I wrote this while a little drunk, so if anything seems off, that’s likely why. (Alternatively, I’m just bad at writing)

Horrifyingly enough, Dee isn’t even the first to notice.

“You know,” Drake cautiously points out, halfway through what would otherwise be a normal Tuesday, “Ryo started wearing a ring.”

Dee immediately dismisses that; Drake, after all, is hardly the most skilled observer. “You sure you didn’t just, like, see a weird reflection?”

“No,” Ted chimes in, “he really is wearing a ring.”

There’s a tense three-way staredown as Dee tries to evaluate whether they’re pulling his leg.

“Well,” he eventually says, “he’s never struck me as the type to wear jewelry, but maybe he’s having a midlife crisis?”

“Dee,” Ted says gently. He’s clearly trying to be diplomatic, and that’s the scariest thing so far. “It’s on his left ring finger. Also, he’s twenty-seven, which is kinda young for a midlife crisis, but a really normal age to get married.”

“Huh,” Dee says, because he absolutely cannot think of anything else to contribute to this awful conversation.

The staredown continues.

After another several uncomfortable seconds, Ted gets to his feet. “As it turns out,” he says nervously, “I _just so happen_ to have a meeting right at this very second, so I’m just gonna, uh, head out.”

“Wow!” says Drake. “I just remembered that I have a meeting too. Actually, it’s probably the same meeting that Ted has! Gotta go! Try not to ummmmm walk into traffic, Dee.”

“ _And,_ ” Ted adds, cheerful and entirely callous, “if you need to have a meltdown, try to do it out of the Chief’s hearing. He’s still not over the anchovy incident from last week.”

Dee’s eyes won’t quite focus on anything; Ted appears to have three heads. He’s in shock, right? Dee is pretty sure he’s in shock. Wasn’t there something about this in the first aid manual he pretends to read every two years when they have to recertify?

“We broke him,” Drake whispers frantically at Ted. “We need to go, _now._ ”

The two detectives leave the room in a manic bustle and Dee is left with a pounding migraine and the absolute certainty that his life is over.

* * *

The brats are, predictably, no help whatsoever.

Bikky outright laughs in his face. “Why would I tell you? So you can keep trying to sneak into his pants? I don’t think so, perv man.”

Carol looks a little more sympathetic, but her allegiances lie with Bikky and his dad. “Sorry, Dee, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

Dee decides on a different angle of attack. “Okay, but _who_ swore you to secrecy?”

“Oh, it was –”

Dee sees Bikky kick Carol in the ankle, and it gives him the only hope he’s felt so far on this horrible afternoon. If it was Bikky who made her promise to keep quiet, then maybe Ryo –

Carol awkwardly clears her throat. “ _That,_ ” she says decisively, “is _also_ a secret.”

Dee smirks at her. “By which you’re saying that the little jerk over there is blackmailing you into keeping quiet or something, yeah?”

Bikky has the gall to look offended, the tiny asshole. “Cal! We talked about this!”

“We did,” Carol agrees, “but do you _see_ how tragic Dee looks right now? If he jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge, who’s gonna take responsibility?”

This is eerily reminiscent of what Drake said earlier, and Dee spares a thought to worry about how awful he must look, and then another to wonder how obvious he’s been this whole time. Not that he’s ever been the most subtle of men, but he’s also vain, and if he looks that bad, how will he ever manage to seduce someone to make Ryo jealous? What if he needs to leave New York entirely? Can he find a new job, somewhere across the continent, with the thousand-yard-stare he currently has fixed on his face?

“Huh,” Carol says, sounding almost clinical. “He actually looks like he might keel over.”

* * *

There is a moment of blissful reprieve that evening when they get a call to a bank robbery in progress.

It’s the first time Dee has seen Ryo all day, and for the first few minutes he manages to forget the absolute disaster his life has become. Ryo looks gorgeous as usual in his suit with the stupid tie that he always ties just a little too long, and he’s a little mussed, like he’s just woken up from a nap even though that’s impossible because Dee has never met anyone more conscientious, and then he reaches back into the squad car he’s just emerged from and pulls out the sniper rifle in its case and –

God. Not the rifle. Dee has tried, _tried,_ to repress how he feels about the way Ryo looks and acts as a sharpshooter, but he watches how Ryo’s palms move over the scope as he attaches it to the body of the gun, and how he retreats into himself to find that moment of perfect calm and focus as he sets his sight, and then his left hand smooths down the barrel and – there’s a ring on the fourth finger of that hand.

Dee freezes again as the leaden weight settles back into the pit of his stomach. Right. How could he have forgotten that life as he knows it has been cancelled?

The bank robbery hasn’t stopped just because his entire life has, but Dee couldn’t possibly care less at this moment. He marches right over to Ryo, who’s still glaring down the sight with an expression that Dee would absolutely _kill_ to have focused on him even though it’s also a little terrifying –

 _Focus._

“Ryo!” he says, sounding much steadier than he actually feels.

“Dee,” his partner grits through a clenched jaw, “I am trying to not shoot a hostage.”

“Right! Right. Shooting good guys is bad. _But,_ if I told you that I really need to talk to you, then –”

“Then you would _still need to shut up because I am busy_.”

Angry Ryo is the sexiest Ryo, unfortunately, and this is not helping Dee at all. He does, however, manage to accomplish the Herculean task of shutting his damn mouth until the uniforms swarm the lobby where the hostages are being held and Ryo lowers the rifle to fix him with a gimlet eye.

“So,” Ryo starts, “please tell me that there was a good reason for you to startle me while I had my finger on the trigger of a high-powered weapon.”

Dee laughs nervously, tries to figure out a good segue, and just completely gives up. 

“Did you get married?” he asks.

Ryo just stares at him. 

“I mean!” Dee continues. “Because! You’re wearing a ring, and I talked to Bikky and Carol and they –”

“You asked _my kid_ about my marital status?”

Uh oh. Ryo’s paternal instincts are starting to kick in. 

“A little bit?” Dee tries. “Like, on a scale of one to ten, it was maybe a five, because I just hinted, really, and –”

Ryo won’t let him finish a single sentence, which is a _really_ bad sign. “You tracked down my child and his best friend, and then scared me while I was holding a gun, to ask about my love life?”

There’s a brief pause. 

“That’s about the size of it,” Dee says, because excuses are futile at this point.

For a moment longer Ryo just glares at him some more and then, abruptly, his expression softens.

“It’s a keepsake from Carol’s family,” he says.

Dee can’t quite keep up with where this conversation is going. “Wait, so she had this fancy piece of jewelry the whole time and never sold it?”

Ryo shrugs. “Her aunt was holding onto it or something? Either way, I think it just turned up last week.”

Dee finally manages to find the plot again. “So, hang on, you’re not married?”

Ryo makes an exasperated noise. “Of course I’m not married. How would I have managed that?”

Dee can’t see straight through the relief, and flops down to the asphalt, heedless of his newly-dry-cleaned suit and the dirt churned up by the squad.

“Get off the ground!”

“ _Why,_ ” Dee asks, almost in tears, “would you wear a ring on your ring finger if you’re not married?”

“Because Carol gave it to me!”

“Then wear it on another finger!”

“This is the only one it fit on!” Ryo says defensively. “Besides, now all the single mothers in the parent-teacher association leave me alone.”

Even sitting is too much at this point; Dee lies back into the mud, praying that there are no sharp objects anywhere nearby.

Sounding genuinely worried, Ryo says, “Can you please explain to me why you’re lying on the floor of this crime scene?”

“Because you’re _garbage,_ ” Dee says.

Ryo makes an odd choking noise.

Dee continues, “How many times do I need to say ‘I’m in love with you’ before you stop thinking it’s a joke?”

Ryo gets that cornered look he always does whenever Dee starts talking about feelings.

“It’s fine, whatever,” Dee says, and looks away when Ryo crouches down on the ground next to him.

“Please look at me,” Ryo says, so Dee reluctantly does.

Ryo continues, “I’m… not married, okay? I’m not even dating anyone.”

Dee squints at him, not quite sure what to make of this.

“Well!” Ryo says, getting back to his feet. “Glad the hostages are all okay. Dee, help me with tidying up this equipment?”

Dee still can’t quite keep his breathing steady but, he reflects, things are a hell of a lot better than they were even an hour ago.

Could be worse, he supposes.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, wait, where did these feelings come from? I WANTED THIS TO BE ALL JOKES.


End file.
